Massachusetts Bill Would Let Residents Change Their Gender On Their Marriage Certificate 

Printed from: https://newbostonpost.com/2023/06/08/massachusetts-bill-would-let-residents-change-their-gender-on-their-marriage-certificate/

Should Massachusetts residents be allowed to change their gender on their marriage license once they have been married?

A bill on Beacon Hill would make that change. 

State Senator Barry Finegold (D-Andover) filed S.975, titled “An Act Relative To the Process For Amending Marriage Certificates.”

Under the proposal, people would be able to change their gender on their marriage license if they have undergone so-called sex reassignment surgery.

Here is the text of the proposal:

 

Section 13 of chapter 46 of the General Laws, as appearing in the 2022 Official Edition, is hereby amended by inserting after subsection (k) the following subsection:-

(l) (1) If a person has completed medical intervention for the purpose of permanent sex reassignment, the marriage record of that person shall be amended to permanently and accurately reflect the reassigned sex if the following documents have been received by the state registrar or town clerk:

(i) an affidavit executed by the person to whom the record relates attesting, under penalty of perjury, that: (A) the affiant’s gender differs from the sex designated on the original marriage record, if such gender is so recorded; and (B) that the marriage is still legally intact;

(ii) a physician’s notarized statement that the person has completed medical intervention, appropriate for that individual, for the purpose of permanent sex reassignment and is not of the sex recorded on the record; and

(iii) a notarized statement from the spouse named on the marriage record to be amended consenting to the amendment.

(2) The affiant shall furnish a certified copy of the legal change of name if the affiant is seeking a marriage record with the legal change of name instead of the name as appearing on the marriage record prior to the amendment.

 

If the bill becomes law, it would not be the only government document where Bay Staters can legally change their gender. 

Currently, Massachusetts allows residents to change their gender on their driver’s license. However, a resident does not need to provide proof of so-called sex reassignment surgery to make the change.

Finegold is the marriage-certificate bill’s only sponsor. There is no companion bill in the Massachusetts House of Representatives.

The bill was assigned to the Joint Committee on the Judiciary on February 16, but no further action has been taken on it.

Finegold could not be reached for comment on Tuesday or Wednesday.

 

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